Ion Theatre has its scary Halloween show in place. It’s Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

What, you say? Doesn’t Ion pride itself on producing new works? Why this familiar old story?

Well, this version isn’t so familiar. It’s the local debut of Jeffrey Hatcher’s new adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novella about the good and evil nature of man, and no matter how many times you may have seen a version of the story, this fresh one is worth checking out.

Hatcher basically avoids the melodrama of the many versions that repeatedly show the respected physician-scientist Dr. Jekyll drinking the herbal potion to transform himself into the menacing Mr. Hyde. Instead, Hatcher sticks closer to Stevenson’s story, more mystery than horror, as friends and officials seeking the criminal Hyde find more and more links to the respected Jekyll.

Patrick Duffy (left), Walter Ritter

Photo courtesy of Ion Theatre

Stevenson’s allegory about the struggle between good and evil in human nature is emphasized throughout, and Hatcher cleverly makes the final conflict between Jekyll and Hyde into a battle over a woman. She’s become obsessed with the amoral Hyde, and Jekyll knows that will lead to her destruction, so he plans to give up his potion. But Hyde no longer needs the potion to appear.

There are enough gruesome moments and onstage murders to satisfy thrill-seekers, but Hatcher has also leavened matters with laugh lines. When investigators are examining a note supposedly sent by Jekyll, one asks “Is that his handwriting?” The answer: “Hard to say. He is a physician, after all.”

The cast, under Kim Strassburger‘s straightforward direction, is generally impressive. Walter Ritter effectively turns Jekyll from a confident exponent of theories into a man wracked with guilt over what he has unleashed on the world. Everyone else plays multiple roles, with Hyde portrayed, at various times, by four persons, sometimes in chorus. The device doesn’t work as well as it might, because Patrick Duffy’s always-foreboding Hyde overshadows the others — Nick Kennedy, Susan Hammons and David McBean.

Duffy is also superb as Jekyll’s Scottish doctor pal. McBean, too, exhibits his amazing talent at quick switches of character and accent. Rachael VanWormer is spunky as the chambermaid who becomes Hyde’s lover.

Matt Scott’s set, mostly in black and red, is highlighted by a central door that is revolved to designate interior or exterior scenes. Claudio Raygoza and Trista Roland’s Victorian-period costuming is fine, although the men’s suits were a trifle big. Karin Filijan’s lighting is, of course, dark and gloomy, blending with the occasional stage fog to evoke dismal London streets. Glenn Paris and Raygoza supply the necessary props, notably an eerily human-looking bloody corpse. Melanie Chen’s sound design enhances the ambiance, particularly by using underscoring and between-scenes sepulchral music.

J&H is at the BLKBOX@6th & Penn, 3704 Sixth Ave.

Cast and credits